


The New Age of Hyrule

by TheSilverSpy



Category: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Video Game), The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gerudo Outfit, Gerudo Town, Impa ships it lol, Just let them be teenagers gods, Link (Legend of Zelda) Uses Sign Language, Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda) Fluff, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Will add more tags as this progresses, cross dressing, join me in my self indulgence, zelda gets short hair just because
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28765473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSilverSpy/pseuds/TheSilverSpy
Summary: Hyrule has been reborn into a new age—The Age of Magic. Magic has become a common occurrence within the bounds of Hyrule for any race or social class. With this new magic, the kingdom was led to prosperity for the entire kingdom. Hyrule was thriving, but a new group of people had arisen; These people had abused this new magic, making them a great force of nature with the violent ways they use their powers. Their leader, the strongest magic user in the land, believed he should have the right to the throne of Hyrule.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Kudos: 8





	1. Zelda's haircut

Princess Zelda, who was yet to be able to unlock her birthright powers, set out on a dangerous quest to try to find and diplomatically diffuse the leader's demands. She found herself to be in trouble with one of the group's members who attacked her on sight. Having gone on this journey alone, evading her escorts, she had to hold her ground alone.

Zelda, to say the least, wasn’t an experienced fighter or caster, but thanks to her constant begging of Link and Impa to teach her, she had learned basic spells and fighting. She even consistently kept a dagger on herself at all times, especially when she had wanted to get out of the castle without any escorts. Doubtful that she would be able to win in a fight against an experienced caster, she clutched her dagger, determined to try.

She leapt to the side when a fireball was hurled at her. Though having narrowly avoided any injuries, she still let out a squeak when she heard her hair singe. Zelda was quick to summon water magic on her embered hair before ducking from another fireball that could have been fatal, had she been a second too late. Zelda threw herself forward, casting an ice spell on the lackey’s hands, constricting him from casting any spells. 

In the moment she knew it wouldn’t last long, the other being far superior in magic than she, but it had managed to buy herself a few seconds to thrust her dagger into the lackey’s arm, eliciting a scream. Her opponent, once recovered from the momentary daze, burnt through his icy confines with a burst of flames. The wild flames reached and crawled up Zelda’s hand, causing her to drop her dagger onto the ground. Fumbling to hold onto her burnt hand, she was able to use the last good bit of magic she had in the moment to coat her hand in ice, in an attempt to cool down the burn. She took the opportunity to throw her iced hand square into her opponent's face. Holding the injured hand close to herself, the impact, and consequently the ice, had only made it burn worse. She picked up the dagger with her non-dominant hand, noticing how warm it felt in her shaky grip. 

Stumbling backwards, she caught sight of her opponent’s wound, seeing that he had healed the bulk of it and was already raring to launch another attack on her. She stood her ground despite the increasing disadvantages, preparing to dodge another attack when Link slid defensively in front of her, deflecting the sharpened ice attack right back at the caster. Impa jumped in, throwing her sharp blades and successfully landing them, causing the opponent to cast one more spell before retreating with a teleportation spell.

Impa dodged the last-ditch effort before sheathing her weapons and running to Link and Zelda. “Princess! Are you alright? I can’t believe you just ran off again! If anything happened to you, King-” Impa was cut off with Link’s frantic motioning at Zelda’s appearance. Between her burnt hair and injured hand—frozen with the ice that began melting down her sleeve—she didn’t look the best.

Link quickly signed,  _ Need to get ice off now _ , grabbing a hold of her hand before she could have any say of protest, gently melting and picking off bits of the remaining ice off. Once that was done, he took off the burnt glove, which could hardly qualify as a glove anymore, motioning for Impa to start healing it.

Tossing the remnant of a glove to the side, he began to explain to Zelda.  _ Can not put ice on burn, will make it worse,  _ he remarked with a serious look. Impa hummed in agreement, beginning to heal the wound. After a few seconds she began to look increasingly worried, “Oh no, oh no,” she mumbled. Link looked down curiously, then sucked in a sharp breath. “Princess… the mark isn’t going away!” she laughed nervously. 

“What?” With that statement, Zelda looked down, panicking, to find that what Impa had said was true. The wound itself had healed and no longer felt nearly as painful as before. But the flames that had wrapped themselves around her hand had made its presence permanently marked on her skin.“Oh my-" she gasped, holding her gruesomely scarred hand in front of her. 

"It's ok! That's ok! Here I'll just uh-" Impa fumbled around for a moment, before taking off her own gloves. "Here! These should probably help!" She awkwardly smiled, shoving one of the gloves on Zelda's hand. Though the glove covered most of the evidence, the tops of her fingers that the gloves didn’t cover still had clear evidence of what was underneath. 

Link let out a distressed sigh,  _ We are all dead _ . 

"No no, we can't think like that-" Impa tried to assure.

"No, he's right, we’re all dead. Father is never going to let me out of the castle again." Zelda truthfully agreed. "If he just sees the state I'm in, my hand, my hair- oh Hylia my hair!" She realized.

Link and Impa took no time to turn Zelda around to properly look. "Oh great , we're double dead!" Impa gave in. Link gravely nodded.

_ Wait,  _ Link waved to get their attention,  _ Haircut? There would be no evidence, _ he meekly suggested.

"Yes of course, because then we would only be one and a halfs dead instead," Impa sassed.

"Wait- Impa, perhaps he’s onto something. Having ‘rebelliously’ cut my hair instead of going out without escorts is bound to get me in less trouble. And with my hand, if we just get me full fitted gloves at the nearest town, then nothing could be noticed!" Zelda thought out. "This could work... I can handle only being in trouble for my hair, and neither of you would be in trouble either," She counted as a plus. Link enthusiastically nodded along, signing,  _ Yes, exactly! _

"This could work, Princess! I could cut your hair right now too!" Impa offered, “Ha, not to brag or anything, but I  _ have _ cut Purah's hair on multiple occasions. Guess you could say I have some experience. Especially cause Purah can't sit still for the life of her."

Link nodded, signing a list of different haircuts they could put on her. The group even used nearby sticks to draw Zelda in said styles in the dirt. After a long discussion, they all agreed upon a simple bob haircut.

Impa gave Zelda the haircut with ease—with a few scary slips. "Well I'm no professional, but I may as well be! As Purah may say it, 'Check it!'" She struck a pose, showcasing Zelda. 

Link applauded enthusiastically, accentuating his hand movements to try and distract from the light flush that had grown in his face,  _ Haircut looks wonderful, great job!  _ He punctuated with a smile.

Zelda ran her hands through her hair, floofing it in various directions. “It feels wonderful too, thank you Impa!” She stood up, giving her a tight hug.

Impa hugged her back, though when they both pulled back, she took a hold of her scarred hand. “...Princess, you do need to stop running off like that. If you keep doing this, I’m not sure how lucky we’ll get like this time. Can you please not do that again?” she said. 

“I don’t want to be protected all the time. I want to be able to take care of myself,” Zelda insisted.

“Well, we can’t have anything happening to you if we’re not there!”

“Then teach me how to protect myself!”

Link and Impa shared a glance before Impa began again, “Ok well, what if we have an agreement? We will continue to teach you things, but we’ll only do so if you agree to stay with us,” She spoke slowly, continuously looking back at Link making sure he was on the same page as her. With his silent reassurance, she confidently finished with, “If you leave us again, then we will not continue any lessons!” 

Impa held out a hand. “Agreed?”

Zelda thought about it for a moment. It was a good deal, and once she was skilled enough, perhaps they would let her go off on her own. “Agreed.” She shook her hand, and then Link’s hand to seal the deal. 

“Well, that’s a relief. Anywho, it’s gotten too dark to travel to any towns. Seems like we’ll have to camp out here tonight,” Impa sighed. 

“That means we have a lot of time to ourselves…” Zelda began, earning her a huff of laughter from Link. 

Impa let out far too dramatic of a sigh, “Well, I’m not doing it tonight. You’re Link’s problem now,” she nudged Zelda in his direction.

Link threw his arms up at Impa before sighing,  _ Ok, dagger training it is then, _ he signed. 

“Yes! Thank you!” 


	2. Impa Ships It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After experiencing the consequences from the King, Zelda's friends try to make her feel better

“Ugh! I still can’t believe the nerve the King has to speak to you in such a way!” Impa fumed, continuing the rant she’d begun once the group left the throne room. 

_ Agreed. _ Link signed to her. Zelda sighed, waving off the comments she knew were perfectly justified. She just wanted them to finish escorting her back to her room and work away the week she couldn’t leave the castle. She walked ahead of her two friends.

Impa worriedly glanced at Zelda, then to Link before changing the tone of her rant. “I’m sure the King must have been just jealous of how majestic the Princess’s hair is compared to his. I mean just look at the way it floofs!” She grabbed hold of Zelda's shoulder. Once Zelda had stilled unwillingly, Impa demonstrated. Making a show of it, she grabbed her hair from underneath, delicately pushing it upward for a few moments before flaring it up in a dramatic manner, continuously repeating the motion. 

Zelda maintained her composure with a sigh, using thoughts about how disappointed her father was in her to keep herself grounded. Though she admits that, for just the slightest second, she could have felt her mouth nearly twitch into a smile. For a moment she thought she could keep her dour mood until Impa would give up. Her plans, though, were swiftly derailed as she broke into huffs of poorly stifled laughter when Link began doing the same as Impa. Adding extra flares of her shortened hair flying. 

“Please- stop-” She placed a hand over her mouth, still attempting to keep her composure. “You’re going to undo my braids!” she weakly protested, knowing full well it was spoken in vain.

With that, Impa purposefully undid one, untangling it and fluffing it out, consequently encouraging Link to do the same with her other one.

“If you want to keep doing this to me, can we at  _ least _ wait until we’re not in a public hallway anymore!” Zelda said, slightly worried someone would come along and see this display of childish folly.

Impa gasped. ”She’s accepting her fate, Link! Well c’mon, let's get a move on! Quick! Pick her up so we can get to her room faster,” she instructed, already motioning for the pair to catch up to her. Link hesitated for a moment before abiding by Impa’s instruction.

“Impa wait- Oh!” Zelda gasped, surprised that Link was going along with this. She knew that he could be goofy when in private, but this was an unexpected level of it she hadn't anticipated.

He ran down the halls with her, carrying her bridal style. As much as she wanted to sulk and shut herself in for the week she was grounded, she realized her friends had made it their goal to make it infuriatingly impossible for her to do so.

Giving in with a burst of laughter, she noticed how far ahead Impa already was. “Link, we’ve got to beat her! She even cheated by getting a head start!” 

Link laughed at that, giving her a nod. Through sheer determination, he somehow managed to catch up to Impa, even getting cocky by sticking a tongue out at her while passing her.

“Hey, how are you doing that? I thought I would have for sure left you guys in the dust!” Impa pouted, attempting to run faster but gradually losing ground.

"We're almost there-- Yes!" Zelda threw her arms up in celebration as Link made it to the door first. Panting, he gently set her down, giving her a thumbs up.

Impa caught up to them a few seconds later, out of breath, “Well, doesn't that make you two just a happy couple," she joked with a roll of her eyes. 

"You're just mad that Link's faster than you—" Zelda stopped, processing what she said, placing a hand over her mouth, "Couple?" 

“Oh, don’t be too dramatic, you know I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, noting Link was having a similar reaction, “Unless I did?” she said, deciding to tease. 

"Impa! You—uh," Zelda looked back to Link momentarily, exchanging a glance, "Shouldn't make such jokes." Link nodded along, fidgeting with his sleeve.

Impa couldn't help but to laugh out loud, "You two are too much," she laughed, opening the door for everyone.

The group entered Zelda's room, the princess doing her best to shake off the comment. Zelda, closing the door, began "...You know, you two don't have to stay here while I live out my punishment-" 

"Awe, but Princess! We want to be here with you, it is my duty to stay with you." Impa insisted.

_ It is my duty to stay with you as well,  _ Link signed, pulling up chairs for the three of them to sit on. 

"No, I mean I  _ have _ something for you to do—Here, give me a moment to find it," She rummaged through her room, shuffling through the hordes of books that littered various surfaces. Zelda abruptly popped up moments later with a rather thin book in her hands, "Yes, here it is!" she celebrated, bounding to the circle of chairs. 

Dropping herself in the last available chair, she unceremoniously flipped through the pages until landing on one, shoving the book in Link and Impa's faces. "A location spell!"

_ What are we doing with a location spell? _ Link hesitantly signed, looking over the book to give Zelda a questioning look.

"Oh, just  _ read _ the page before either of you say anything else!" Zelda blurted when she saw Impa had begun to open her mouth to say something.

The pair with that complied and took a silent moment to read what was being forcefully presented to them. Link was the first to finish reading, eyes wide. ”What?” he gaped, before realizing he’d said that out loud. Composing himself, he bashfully signed,  _ A location spell for people?  _

"That's possible?" Impa asked.

"Yes, but there's very little research done on it. This is the only book I've seen mention of it! It works just like a regular location spell, you need to have a little bit of the object in order to track more of it. But in this case, it has to be DNA or one of the person's possessions. You can see that it would be difficult to perform…" She closed the book, placing it in her lap. "I was just keeping it as a backup plan just in case of something like this,” she gestured to her hair, “like my being grounded, happened." 

_ What you need us to do is to get something of the leader's to perform the spell, then,  _ Link concluded.

"Yes, exactly. You can see why I was hesitant to ask something like that of either of you. He's nearly untraceable, and it seems that none of his followers is willing to talk…" she rubbed her gloved hand before continuing, "This is the best shot we've got at keeping the peace for Hyrule diplomatically. I know my father believes otherwise… but this is what I can do now, whether or not he wants me too…" 

"Princess…" Impa and Link looked to each other, giving an affirming nod, "Don't worry, we'll get something for you, Princess. We're going to catch this guy no matter what! And Hyrule will be safe and the King will see just how wrong he was!" she confidently declared. 

Zelda smiled, "Thank you so much, the both of you!” She then felt a pang of guilt, “I'm so sorry I won't be able to assist you…" 

Link was quick to interrupt that line of thought, leaning in and giving her a hug. "Just be safe for us," he mumbled to her, his voice rigid from its lack of use.

Zelda, though momentarily surprised, leaned into the hug, wrapping her arms around him. 

The both of them jumped when Impa joined in unprompted, "Awe, you guys are just too sweet!" She cooed at them, squeezing tighter, squishing them closer together, eliciting a small squeak from Link. 

"Ah! Impa-"

"Shh, give your complaints after the group hug is done."

“But-”

“Nope!”

So under Impa's request, they all stayed in comfortable silence, adjusting to fit more comfortably in each other's arms. 

"Ah, perhaps... perhaps we should do this more often… it's been too long since I've had a hug like this." Zelda admitted. 

Impa pulled away, appearing borderline offended. "That just can't do! I'll have to royally advise you to request hugs more often! I'm sure  _ Link especially _ will be glad to provide that service for you."

Link gave Impa a panicked look before she abruptly pushed him back into Zelda. "Impa, why...?" he mumbled. He and Zelda were oddly quick to push off of each other. 

Zelda awkwardly cleared her throat, "I'll make sure to request hugs more often then, since you insist Impa.”

Zelda, refusing to have an awkward silence, was a bit too quick on changing the subject. “And anyway, since you two have agreed to this, while you're away I'll try to find any more information I can on the subject. I'll have to find and read every last book about location spells within Hyrule. Perhaps someone else has found a more effective way of performing it." she said, the last part more for herself than the people she was thinking aloud too. 

“Now, for where you two should go. I originally found the one member through asking locals who were able to give me just enough information to track him down. I’m supposing that you two may be able to do the same. Of course, you won’t be able to ask around all of Hyrule in a week by yourselves. If Father would support me in this endeavour, it would have been easier with the entire guard helping. So we have to start small,” Zelda went to her desk, opening a drawer. “I have mapped a few specific areas in which I have heard of sightings of members of this group. I want you to go there,” She presented the map she’d marked.

Impa took the map. ”This is near Gerudo town! That’s a relief, we will have somewhere nearby to stay for the week.” 

“Yes, I’m sure that Urbosa will be very welcoming to you. It’s a shame I won’t be able to come with you. It’s been far too long since I’ve last been able to meet with her,” Zelda lamented. 

Impa gave her a reassuring touch on the shoulder. “We’ll pass on to Lady Urbosa your regards.”

Link, staring at the map with wide eyes, seemed to have gotten really excited about the prospect of being able to visit Gerudo town. He took a moment before looking up hopefully at the two, quietly asking, ”Does that mean I can wear my outfit?”

Laughing, Impa replied, ”Of course, Zelda loves seeing you wear that!” 

Link and Zelda both willfully ignored Impa’s comment, noticeably avoiding looking at each other. Link fist-pumped the air, undoubtedly excited about the occasion. It wasn’t often he was able to break out his Gerudo wear after all, “Thank you!”

Letting out a sigh, Impa honestly said, “I don’t think I’ll ever get why he likes wearing that outfit so much.”

“He just thinks he looks great in it,” Zelda said, her cheeks dusted in pink because, well, he wasn’t wrong. But that’s not something that she was going to willingly admit anytime soon. 

Link, letting out a huff of laughter, winked at them with a pair of finger guns. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was also edited by my great friend!

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to my friend who edited this for me!


End file.
